Abstract:

The STEM classroom has not escaped the digital revolution. In the laboratory, computers and probes allow quick and easy data collection and analysis, so students can test their hypothesis, and variations of it, within the time limits of the school curriculum. Aside this technical prowess, a new generation of software aims to integrate the principles of knowledge construction into an integrated approach enabling the student to actively participate in his own learning. In teacher training, software helps student teachers to design pedagogical scenarios that can be later commented upon and evaluated by practicing teachers, opening the door to continuous teacher professional development.

Our objective is to examine here the various functions technology can play in STEM education, as well its advantages and limits to foster better learning and help teachers to design and review high school science activities. It is important to note that research reported here can be thought as part of a Design Research framework. As such, each research followed three main steps in design research process:
1) analysis and exploration;
2) design and construction;
3) evaluation and reflection.

As for results, with respect to the first objective, we report research we have undergone in the last ten years using software in an educational approach that integrated the principles of knowledge construction enabling the student to actively participate in his own learning. In addition, we sought to determine the conditions under which digital tools, plateforms and processes, combining online resources with classroom-based activities, influence the acquisition of scientific skills in the classroom. With respect to the second objective, the research reported here used software to help student teachers design pedagogical scenarios that were later commented upon and evaluated by practicing teachers. In this regard, these research helped us identify the training needs of science educators in the pedagogical, scientific and technological skills needed in high school science teaching. Among other things, our research may help educate science teachers on how to use digital technologies to achieve optimal results in science learning in high school.

In conclusion, we plead in order to benefit from these various contributions for a continuous interaction through research between the development of technological tools and their pedagogical use in STEM education. One such profit was the conception of an interactive website we called EDUSCIENCES which resulted from continuing cooperation over the last ten years between faculty of education and faculty of engineering at the university of Ottawa. The activities offered on the EDUSCIENCES website aimed to provide students a rich learning environment with a diverse range of scientific activities, and ways to develop their understanding of scientific concepts, to acquire methods of scientific investigation, and to exercise their autonomy, reflection and critical spirit.

Keywords:

STEM education, Video-based laboratory, conceptual understanding, high school science learning, Design research, Science student teachers training.